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Across a Great Dark Sea
The world has always returned from calamity, but calamity remains. Cleocadia bears many scars from its long history – in its land, its seas, its skies, and especially in its people. Much of that same history has been lost, swallowed by the waters that doomed the old empire nearly a thousand years ago. Where there was humanity, there is now extinction. Where there was land, there is now a [[Great Dark Sea|'great, dark sea']]. Yet the dreams of a better world have persisted. New nations have formed out of the ruins of the old. And while piracy plagued the south after the flood, the rule of the Coalition has flourished for the last 100 years or so. Technology has improved beyond anything thought possible, and many budding innovators search for the next step after steam power. Now, almost a millennium after the Cascade, things are better than they have ever been in mortal memory. This peace is a hesitant one, however. As newer, richer powers succeed the older, traditional ones, people are coming to realise that the world will not survive with contradicting forces at play. The world has been built up again, yes – but what will it be built into now? The South This is the south of the world. What lies to the north has been forgotten, made inaccessible by the cursed Miasma skies. Here, people live on islands across a huge sea. Culture, climate and technology vary greatly from island to island, though the most advanced places go no further than industrial revolution-level tech. Monsters lurk beneath the ocean amidst the ruins of an old, sunken empire. Spellcasters bend reality through their dreams, each unique to them. Some people live alongside the greatest miracles of magic and engineering, while others persist on no more than basic agriculture. The South is a place of variety and disparity in equal measure. Cleocadia Caught between the western isles of Salsaia and the eastern fields of Hyn-Rest, there is [[Cleocadia|'Cleocadia']] – an expanse of sea where land once stood. This ocean, known as ‘the Cleothalassa’ by few and ‘the [[Great Dark Sea|'Great Dark Sea']]’ by many, is home to many islands, the result of an event called the Cascade which ended the old world almost a thousand years ago. It is mostly ruled by the Coalition, an authority of five powerful nations who once joined 125 years ago to bring an end to Ulthir, the First Necromancer, greatest of the Seven Pirate Warlords. As Ulthir fell, law rose in place of piracy, and the Coalition founded a new nation – Imara, home to all people. The Old World People know there was an old empire that ruled the South. They talk of concord between humanity and elvenkind and of three great machine-gods who led them: Ignata, the sun god of the elves, Astra, the moon god of humankind, and Vadstus, the sky god of war. For all the things people spout about the empire – all their miracles, their technologies, their victories - what is best known is how the empire ended. Astra, whose will bound the tides, was killed. The moon shattered into fragments, the ocean swallowed the land, and humanity, for all intents and purposes, ended. This event has come to be known as the [[The Cascade|'Cascade']]. The shattered moon has served as a constant reminder of it, and the calendar is marked as AC (after Cascade). Over the next few centuries society crumbled, and piracy rose in its place – this era being the so-called Age of Piracy. After about 850 years, seven Warlords had carved up the ocean into distinct territories in a tentative alliance. But the Warlord necromancer Ulthir led his undead fleet against the others, threatening to rule the whole ocean. So great was the threat of Ulthir that the Coalition first formed to deal with him – and they succeeded. With Ulthir’s death, the Age of Piracy came to an end. The nations on the sea today either barely survived the Cascade or were founded after it. Nothing from the old world has truly remained. Strange Places The Miasma is a dark cloud of immense size that has blanketed the entirety of the northern skies for as long as anyone can remember. Its black rain curses anything it touches. Mass travel beyond it is considered impossible, and people have forgotten what might lie beyond. The Underdeep is a series of roads through the underbelly of the world, cutting through caverns and ocean alike. Strange creatures lurk in the darkness. Mortal folk that live there have adapted to traversing both land and sea, and have grown dangerous in isolation. The realm of Deorsa lies miles beneath the ocean’s surface, impervious to assault. Its citadels float in pockets of air in the deep, ruled by the Bajomer (‘deep Mer’) and the Grey Elves – known for their white hair, near-translucent skin and blank eyes. Sulterland is the southmost land of the world, a place of flesh-biting ice where nothing green grows. It is said to have once been home to the Giants, who are now extinct for reasons unknown. Coalition Nations Alstice is a temperate island, the largest in the Great Dark Sea, having been left nearly untouched by the Cascade. This fact is often owed (by natives and outsiders alike) to it being the homeland of [[Halflings|'Halflings']], who believe themselves bearers of the [[Four Winds|'Four Winds']]’ fortune. Its southern province, Allevia, is known for its engineering marvels, being the birthplace of the Great Alstician Railway, while its central province, Brigganny, is known for its beautiful lavender fields, now encroached upon by factories. To the north, Miasma is held back by the mountains of Saliswall, as well as a magical structure known as the Ardenward. [[Titanbath|'Titanbath']] was built from the crater left by a meteorite. The Dwarves built a colossal, angular dome over the top, and now extend their reach ever further into the earth. Its houses are angular and compact, while its kilns are enormous repurposed caves. Outsiders know of their Hall of the Dead, a legendary structure that houses thousands of stone statues – the remains of Dwarves who have died of old age. High Celsus is an island city that floats in the sky, a miracle of magic lost to time. Much of the beautiful marble architecture has fallen to ruin, as the High Elves have struggled to survive away from the earth. It is thanks to their order of alchemists, the Cella Solaris, that they have persisted. Sylvestris is a warm land of arid forests from which High Celsus departed, ruled by the Wood Elves. Centuries of fighting monsters spawned from the Miasma have bred a strong military doctrine in its culture, and service in the Vigil – the nation’s army – is mandatory at a certain age. Vorsthalland is a cold, mountainous land further south, home to the metallic Vellin (steel-folk). Once slaves to the Giants, the golem-like Vellin freed themselves and sailed to this island, covering it in small towns and mastering it with steel roads which run through the mountains. Their feats of metallurgy are unparalled, extending even to their own bodies. Imara is a land of boats and waterways. It is quadrisected by immense canals called the Spokes, built out of other rivers and pre-existing structures. These run north, south, east and west across the entire country, all meeting in the central lake capital, Allport. It is the most diverse nation in the South, and ruled by the Coalition ‘council’: a mixed democracy and meritocracy. In Imara, anything is possible. Beyond The Coalition There are many places that mortal folk call ‘home’ on the Great Dark Sea. In Camanaida, the Mer survive the terrors of the deep using their prodigious arcane magic, their capital, Marimaremolin, protected by a spiralling whirlpool. In the Shale, sentient undead known as Hollows make their home, occupying themselves on the cold south coast of the world out of sight and mind. In the Waterlands, people live in a confluence with the Elemental Wilds of Water, and water invades every place in the rainforests. In the territory of Victoria, people rule from the ruins of a once-flying fortress from long ago - [[Belliferi |'Belliferi' ]] - their xenophobia prompting them to fire on approaching ships. In [[Rijk|'Rijk']], people live old-fashioned lives in old-fashioned towns, led by one of the last royalties in the world. In Ostoja, a few self-sufficient islands are surrounded by a huge thunderhead storm. No one knows why such innocuous places are deserving of such protection. The Nakesvar is a nomadic fleet of travelling ships that makes up a ‘nation’ on its own. Their Castiserays (ship-palaces) can be found on all seas, as places of respite for tired sailors on regular trade routes. To the west of Cleocadia is Salsaia, an archipelago of hundreds of small islands. It is home of Mandrakes – who call themselves ‘Dragonborn’ – as well as the Naga (snake-folk) of Satyavarsha, and the many fractured nations of Lizardfolk. These peoples have warred across the Scaled Sea for as long as anyone can remember. To the east of Cleocadia is Hyn-Rest, a hallowed land of golden groves. Its native people are Oni, similar to the Orcs of Cleocadia, who maintain the land though a construct called the Wayfare – the site where Hyn, a spirit of nature, blesses the land in return for bodies and minds. Past that is Hayama, a small empire spared from the Cascade by its elevation, built out of mountains where flying [[Tengu |'Tengu' ]] roost. 'Next:' *Meta Information. Category:Adventures Category:Introduction